The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
“We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time”
So far things are looking pretty good for the Crested Butte Lady Titans. Sure, it’s early in the season but after this past weekend of play, coach Mike Moran’s work with the team on defense appears to already be paying off.
The Lady Titans split their two games at the South Park tournament, paced by a stingy defense that held their opponents to an average of 28.5 points.
“We’ve been working really hard on our defense and our man-to-man principals,” says Moran. “We did that pretty well this weekend.”
The Lady Titans opened the tournament Friday, December 6 against Platte Canyon, a 3A team out of Bailey, Colo.
Senior Shannon Costello led the team through the first quarter, scoring six of the Lady Titans’ first eight points as Crested Butte took a slim 8-6 lead.
The Lady Titans then exploded in the second quarter, outscoring Platte Canton 15-6. Costello continued to light it up, scoring another 10 points and when Platte Canyon put two defenders on her, she managed to find open teammates.
Junior Courtney Kopf picked up where Costello left off, scoring five points in the second quarter and the Lady Titans took a 23-12 lead into halftime.
While Platte Canyon continued to double-team Costello in the second half, additional Lady Titans then found their rhythm on offense as seniors Ali McGuire and Suzanna Dumas scored six and five points, respectively, to help seal the 38-28 win.
“We were in control the whole game,” says Moran.
Costello finished the game with 20 points and 13 steals, while Dumas led the team in the paint, pulling down 11 rebounds.
The Lady Titans tipped off the following day against Summit, another 3A team, and came out red-hot, building a 21-12 lead by halftime. But the loss of three players to illness that weekend eventually took its toll on the Lady Titans.
Summit managed to dump the ball into their bigger players inside and cut into the Lady Titans’ lead over the course of the second half.
Crested Butte held on to hold off Summit as long as they could, but eventually fell 29-27.
Costello led the team again with 10 points and Dumas scored eight and pulled down six boards.
“We ran out of gas in the second half,” says Moran. “We were really short-handed but I was still really proud with the way they played. We’ve come a long way in a short amount of time.”
The Lady Titans will return to the road this weekend as they head to Ridgway to face the Demons on Friday, December 13. Moran is expecting a tough game from Ridgway and will have his team shifting to work on their offense.
“They look good, I’m looking forward to a hard-fought contest,” says Moran.
Crested Butte will host its first home game of the season on Friday, December 20 when they look to defend mighty Mt. Olympus against the Telluride Miners.
